Etretat paintings in GeocodedArt

Laundresses by the Sea at Etretat

Painting by Claude-Emil Schuffenecker (1851-1934).  Many of this artist's landscapes appear to be what one might see on a pleasant walk, not necessarily the most impressive vistas. This image is a merger of these approaches, featuring a landmark feature, a spectacular sunset, and common people going about the back-breaking work that was a defining feature of the "good old days".

Etretat paintings geocoded

Camille Pissarro paintings in Geocoded Art

The Place du Havre, Paris

painting by Camille Pissarro (1830-1903). It seems that Pissaro painted everything he saw: still life, portraits, terrain, city life, country life, great buildings, industrial innovation, unspoiled nature. The common element is some optimism, a  sense that the artist was pleased with everything he saw. This is a curious framing, to show only a part of the door to the station; the subject is really the life that swirls around it, like painting the rapidly changing surface of water to connote a surging river.

Pissarro paintings geocoded

Paul Flandrin paintings in GeocodedArt

Valley of Hyeres

painting by Paul Flandrin (1811 - 1902). Of the two painting Flandrin brothers, Paul was far more oriented to painting outdoor scenes, and devoted great attention to realistic foliage. His scenes tended toward wilderness, with few if any figures; often painted sites that looked the same as they must have before humans were ever on the scene. The sky casts a beneficent glow in this image, allowing a fellow to lean on his staff for a moment and take some contentment in nature.

Paul Flandrin paintings geocoded

Alfred Sisley paintings Geocoded

Villeneuve-la-Garenne

Painting by Alfred Sisley (1839-1899). Sisley's most recognizable works, those around Moret-sur-Loing, were a departure in subject matter from his long-standing style: no figures are included in most of his images, nor are the great landmarks of France. More often than not the pleasing vistas along the riverbanks that he so frequently painted did not include identifiable landmarks, and yet they were usually named very specifically by place, 

Sisley paintings geocoded

Jean Beraud paintings in GeocodedArt

Le Pont Neuf

Painting by Jean Beraud. Beraud painted views of life on the streets of Paris of his day, and its interiors, in addition to portraits. The style was realistic, almost to the point of photographic, but the scenes are not entirely realistic in that all of the people shown are well to do and seem to be enjoying their lives. 
Jean Beraud paintings geocoded

Corot paintings in Geocoded Art

Seine and Old Bridge at Limay

Painting by JBC Corot (1796-1875)   Corot was  highly accomplished in portraits as well as one of the most influential landscape painters.  While a few of his landscapes served the traditional function of a vehicle for framing legendary stories, he paved the way for paintings to be appreciated for what they show of a scene in the present.

It is very much like Corot to tramp to this island spot to best depict the noble form of the old bridge. Its geometry contrast with the glassy water. An artist always makes conscious and unconscious choices about what to include in an image, and in this case the vantage point does not include the spans of the old bridge that are missing.

Corot paintings geocoded

Rouen paintings collected in Geocoded Art

Apse of the Cathedral viewed from rue des Bonnetiers

Painting by William Parrott 1813-1869. One of several paintings by Parrott of ornate church towers; the imposing structures are obscured by the many threads of life that have grown surrounding them. Parrott's viewpoint does not emphasize the grandest elements of the great structure, but does indicate how it dominates life around it. 

Rouen paintings geocoded

Puigaudeau paintings added to GeocodedArt

The Steeple at Croisic

painting by Ferdinand du Puigaudeau (1864-1930).  He painted mostly outdoor scenes at sunset or in moonlight. Early in his career the outdoor scenes focused on the inhabitants of the area and their lifestyle, while later work focused just on the scenic view. This image is a rare view for this painter: full sun at mid-day washes out most color, leaving the form of the houses and great central tower in relief.

Puigaudeau paintings geocoded

Collioure paintings in geocodedArt

View of Collioure

Painting by Paul Signac (1863-1935). Signac’s style is one of the most recognizable of modern painters, one that is particularly well-suited to the open skies and flat surfaces of port areas.   In such a lovely place, with such a lovely twilight, all sorts of meanings can be derived from points of paint.

Collioure paintings geocoded

Henri Martin paintings in GeoCodedArt

The Port of Collioure

Painting by Henri Martin (1860-1943).  This artist used an unadorned style, capturing the essence of what might be remembered about a scene if one were to recount it later.  This dawn view of the waterfront suggests that the painter was as industrious as those manning the fishing boats.  The remarkable clarity of the water surface provides one of those instances in which a great painting can induce the visual system to overwhelm other thoughts and makes you feel you are in another time and place.

Henri Martin paintings geocoded

Paintings of Dieppe in GeocodedArt

Rue Notre-Dame, Dieppe

Painting by Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942).  This artist did a wide variety of portraits, interior scenes, and town views to capture the world he lived in, and the world he sought out.  This is one of the more bright, stately and respectable of the artist's dozen or more works in and around Dieppe. The effect is certainly aided by augmenting the height of the towers of Saint Jacques.

Dieppe paintings geocoded

Boudin pantings in GeocodedArt

The Seine at Caudebec-en-Caux

painting by Eugene Boudin (1824-1898).  Boudin was a leader of the French movement to paint outdoors, and nearly all his works include a view of water.  This is  is a rare example of Boudin doing a study of still water in contrast to the dozens of works of sea and sky of his native Normandy.
 The tower of Notre Dame still dominates the town; the Seine's surface, glassy in parts and turbulent in parts, catches the reflections of the whitewashed structures in the full sunlight. This is a picture of increasingly stable, civilized world as the Seine is traced from the sea to the cultural heights inland.

Boudin geocoded

Ten paintings of Avignon in GeocodedArt

The Bridge of Avignon

Painting by Paul Jean Marie Sain (1853-1908). The sky has a magic quality, inspiring deep-seated feelings that defy easy description. A skillful painter can transmit and instill a range of sometimes unfamiliar feelings with just a slight glimmering at the edge of a cloud. With the focus on the sky and the open end of the bridge obscured, this location takes on a particularly eternal appearance, while remaining grounded on the rocky path in front of us.

Avignon paintings geocoded

Many painters' views of Auvers-sur-Oise in GeocodedArt

The Church at Auvers

painting by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890).  van Gogh did view paintings, along with figures and still life, throughout his career; but the development of his signature style in France raises an interesting question about the interaction of place and image. The time of day is a mystery here: the path seems lit for the passer-by, but the sky could hardly be more dark. Is it an accident that the artist has left the clock face blank? 

Auvers paintings geocoded

The Rocks at Ouessant

Painting by Henri Moret (1856-1913). As numerous as are the rocky inlets of the Brittany coast, so are the views that Henri Moret painted of them. He favored bright colors and a texture that fit the rugged coast, and only occasionally included inhabitants or structures. More rare than finding many people in his images are paintings that have an ambiguous title: the titles of his works usually identify specifically the location, perhaps as a way to be clear that not all bits of the Brittany coast are interchangeable. In this image it appears that the intensity of interaction between rock and cloud gives off clouds of the same color as a byproduct.

Henri Moret geocoded

Guigou paintings added to GeocodedArt

Chinchin Valley at Ile-sur-la-Sourgue, Vacluse

painting by Paul Camille Guigou (1834-1871). Virtually all of Guigou's paintings were of rural settings, though not wilderness; usually there were a few solitary figures and a distant man-made structure that were the reason the painter and the figures were in the area.

This image in particular shows a realism in the foliage that is reminiscent of older styles of painting, but his choice of subject, a rugged, unromantic setting, is typical for this artist and has a very modern sense.

Guigou geocoded

Armand Guillaumin paintings added to Geocodedart

Place Valhubert

Painting by Armand Guillaumin (1841-1927). A prolific artist who produced portraits, still life, and landscapes, where his style was marked by a soft focus, bright colors, and a crowded vista, with very little sky or horizon to be seen. When further south, there tended to be more sky, but the works had even less sharp edges to them, as if when he is in the sun too long he finds it hard to keep his eyes sharply focused. This is an image of more precise lines than the artist would use later in his career when he painted more sites outside Paris than in it. Of all of the sites to paint in Paris, this begs the question of just what the artist saw here that he felt compelled to record and share it (bearing in mind that this is when it took more than an instant to do that).

Guillaumin geocoded

Maxime Maufra paintings added to GeocodedArt

The descending street at Locronan

Painting by Maxime Maufra (1861-1918). Maufra worked almost exclusively in landscapes, and his paintings show a great variety in terrain, palette, lighting, and mood. One feature is consistent, though, in all 100+ of his landscapes: only very rarely do they include images of people, even though in many cases boats or buildings are shown.  In his varied style, Maufra, more than other artists, lets each place speak for itself. The essence of the place is not hidden behind too much flashy painter technique nor emotional overlay.

Maufra geocoded

Stanislas Lepine paintings added to GeoCodedArt

The Seine at la Garenne Saint-Denis

painting by Stanislas Lepine (1835 - 1892). Lepine most often painted scenes in which a waterway leads to a wide horizon; the waterway, whether river or port, is generally populated with people, boats, docks, and bridges.  His views of Paris street scenes emphasize how lives are lived amidst charming surroundings.

Lepine geocoded

Moret-sur-Loing paintings on geocodedArt

The Bridge at Moret, 1893

painting by Alfred Sisley (1839-1899). Some of Sisley's most recognizable works, those around Moret-sur-Loing, came late in his career. They represented a departure in subject matter, while keeping many elements of his long-standing style: most of his images do not include figures, and they do not focus on great landmarks. The departure in Moret comes in pinning down a unique location; the pleasing vistas along the riverbanks that he so frequently painted rarely have identifiable landmarks. From this vantage point of this image, the signature tower at the end of the bridge is hidden, but the bridge itself is the real subject of this work. The repetitive symmetry of its arches might make a visual echo to the sound of the cart wheels across the bridge.


Moret-sur-Loing geocoded

Lhermitte paintings on Geocoded Art

Leaving the Saint-Melaine Church in Morlaix

Painting by Leon Augustin L'hermitte (1844 -1925). L'Hermitte's work focused on daily life and on those who do the work which must be done everyday. Only occasionally was the backdrop recognizable, and here the focus was so great on life at the street level that the artist does not include the great steeple. The return to daily life can wait for these church-goers. Stone for stone this place is today just as the artist saw it, neither has the pace changed.

L'hermitte geocoded

Jean-Francois Rafaelli paintings added to Geocoded Art

Menton

painting by Jean-Francois Raffaelli (1850-1924).  Raffelli's hallmark are architectural lines which are as crisp as the lettering in his signature.  The foreground figures have a slight cartoon aspect to them, but the expert shading and fading of the hillside produces a remarkable 3D realism effect.  The shimmering color of the water and the steady rise to the pinnacle of the Basilica Saint Michel together produce a ffeeling of a warp in the continuum that comes when you know what it was like for a person to stand in this place at that time.
Raffaelli geocoded

Le Sidaner paintings added to GeocodedArt

The little village in morning, Quimperle

Painting by Henri Le Sidaner (1862-1939). Le Sidaner usually painted with a soft focus that looks like he is painting a dream. When in London or Italy he would paint landmark structures in grand perspective but in France he tended to do close up views, with no horizon visible, of the ordinary and yet beautiful. This is a bright. loving view of the smaller of the towns with similar names, in accord with the artist's tendency to shy away from the well-known and obvious landmarks of his home country. Sadly it appears that the trees have given way to the cars which did not exist when the lines of the town were laid out.
Le Sidaner geocoded

Harpignies paintings added to GeocodedArt

Chateau de Clisson
Painting by Henri Harpignies (1819 - 1916). Trees and riverbanks were more often the subject of Harpignies paintings than man-created structures, and the title of his paintings usually did not identify their precise location. Time is softening the edges of this venerable old redoubt, making it appear more like the soft clouds and gentle foliage that will outlast it. The artist's work at this site shows it as isolated, but not abandoned; today it clearly is so, yet with more activity around then than in years gone by. Harpignies geocoded

Paintings of La Rochelle added to GeoCodedArt

La Rochelle Harbour 1762

Painting by Claude Vernet (1714-1789). Vernet is one of the finest of classical scene painters, usually focused on harbors; the subjects were mixed between sites of interest in antiquity, current scenes of his time, and hybrid imaginary scenes of unnamed locations.  In this work Vernet carefully picks a vantage point which includes the great clock tower, the towers that guard the harbor, and the activities of the folks at the water’s edge that are the essence of La Rochelle.  With a grandeur that later painters never attempted once photography came along, the artist captures far more than a single exposure of a camera ever could: the range of light and focal length which allows the adaptive human eye to appreciate the glory of the sunset, the soaring of the shore birds, the details of the activity in the harbor, and the impressive silhouette of the towers keeping watch.

Caillebotte geocoded

Meaux. Effect of Sunlight on the Old Chapterhouse
painting by Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894). More than virtually any other painter, Caillebotte distributed his efforts between figure studies, urban scenes, pastorals, interiors, and still life, always finding elegance in the most ordinary of everyday activities. In the shadow (literally) of the great cathedral, the artist captures a more humble but quite noble structure. This rendering, a study of the early morning light, and the inclusion of the sheds, since removed, give the place a more common touch than it has today after renovation.
Caillebotte geocoded